


The One with the Latte Art

by QuincyK



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, M/M, Other characters mentioned - Freeform, latte art
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-28
Updated: 2018-05-28
Packaged: 2019-05-14 20:47:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,146
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14776977
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/QuincyK/pseuds/QuincyK
Summary: “Huh,” he replied, staring into the cup. “Oi, what’s your insta, I’m gonna tag you in this.”“My what?”“Your Instagram?”“Oh,” Otabek shrugged. “I don’t really do a lot of social media. I think I have a Facebook? But definitely not an Instagram. That’s the one with the pictures, right?”Yurio stared at him and the expression of disbelief on his face was comical.





	The One with the Latte Art

**Author's Note:**

  * For [spellingwasp](https://archiveofourown.org/users/spellingwasp/gifts).



> How Do You Summary 
> 
> Well I finally did it, A, I posted your fucking fic haha. I hope you enjoy it <3
> 
> Also, as a warning, I've very new to instagram and I honestly don't completely understand how it works yet so if something is wrong... well its just wrong.
> 
> The same thing applies to the latte art, lol.

Otabek liked his job at the local café. It was close enough to the university that he could walk from work to class and back easily, he got free or discount coffee whenever he wanted, and he liked the owner, even if Victor was a bit exuberant for his tastes. He reminded himself of this fact as he irritably took the probably fiftieth giggling freshman’s coffee order as her and her friends stole glances at his boss explaining how the espresso machine worked to one of the new hires.

This happened every time a new term began. As new students discovered the café and therefore discovered Victor, they told their friends and for the first few weeks they came in and gawked in the morning before their classes. And not just girls. Victor had a way of charming even the most taciturn of male customer.

He sighed as the girls moved down the counter and when he lifted his eyes to greet the next person in line, he did a double take. The customer in front of him was a young man, a first year probably, with chin length blond hair and piercing blue eyes, a sneer contorting his face as he stared after the girls. But what caught Otabek’s attention was his bright leopard print jacket over a black t-shirt with a tiger’s face printed in the center. What an odd sense of style.

“Tch,” Leapard said. “if they’re gonna order coffee they should just do it instead of wasting all of our time drooling over someone who is clearly not interested.”

“Mm.”

At his response, Leapard turned back towards him and Otabek had to suppress a flinch at the intensity of his full focus.

“I need to speak to whoever runs this place. I want a job.”

“Ah.”

Otabek looked over his shoulder and raised his voice enough to be heard over the chatter of the café, “Hey, Victor! You have time for an interview? He wants to apply for a job.”

His boss came over and clapped him on the shoulder in excitement.

“Well! Look what we have here! You don’t look like you’d make many tips with a face like that! But luckily for you, I’m in need of an Angry Type. Come back to my office and let’s chat!”

As Leapard followed Victor in angry bewilderment, Otabek quietly said “Good luck.”

The young man glared over his shoulder. “I don’t need luck.”

 

***

 

Perhaps he truly didn’t, because he got the job. Yuri, or Yurio as Victor had begun to call him so as not to confuse him with the other Yuuri, quickly became a favorite of the customers. Otabek didn’t often cross paths with him at work, since he worked on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday while Yurio worked the other days of the week. According to Mila, who had shifts with both of them, a lot of the customers seemed to find his grumpy nature and quick to anger attitude charming and were often completely entertained by his interactions with Victor and Yuuri. It didn’t matter so much to Otabek, he was just happy that he wasn’t driving customers away with his attitude.

About a month after he was hired, Otabek looked up to see Yurio striding into the café, wearing the same garish jacket and t-shirt combination. He wondered if he owned anything else. They exchanged few words, Yurio just enough to order his flat white latte and Otabek to take it down. As he moved down to the bar (it was a slow day, so he was the only one needed on the floor at the moment) he thought some more about Yurio’s clothing choices and decided to try something he rarely did for anyone but himself.

He was just putting the finishing touches on his work when Yurio growled from the other side. “What the hell is taking so long?!”

Otabek met his eyes with a perfectly sculpted blank face and said blandly, “One flat white for Yurio” while slowly sliding the drink over the counter, making sure to keep the lid off the cup.

“Don’t call me that,” he grumbled and then he looked at his drink. Otabek watched in amusement as his whole body froze. After a full five seconds of staring at the tiger face latte art that mirrored his shirt, Yurio whipped out his phone and snapped a picture. Then he ducked down next to it so his face would be visible, pointing at his shirt and snapping another picture.

Otabek felt his lips turn up in a small smile. It was somehow incredibly cute that such an angry person loved cats so much and he felt a little proud that Yurio was snapping so many photos.

Once he finished, Yurio looked up and demanded, “how did you do that?!”

 

 “I watched a lot of YouTube videos.” Otabek answered, letting out a small laugh.

“Huh,” he replied, staring into the cup. “Oi, what’s your insta, I’m gonna tag you in this.”

“My what?”

“Your Instagram?”

“Oh,” Otabek shrugged. “I don’t really do a lot of social media. I think I have a Facebook? But definitely not an Instagram. That’s the one with the pictures, right?”

Yurio stared at him and the expression of disbelief on his face was comical.

“Where do you live, a nursing home?”

“Only on the weekends.”

“Of course.”

He looked back down at his cup and stated, “I’m going to learn how to do this.”

Then he glared at Otabek, as if he was going to say something to stop him.  Staring into eyes full of determination and defiance, he could only respond with “I’m sure you will.”

With a decisive nod, Yurio stalked out of the shop and Otabek wondered what sort of monster he had just created.

***

The next time Otabek came into the shop to grab a coffee before class, Yurio was the one at the counter taking the orders and Otabek was… Not Prepared. It was the first time he had seen the blond without a hood pulled down over his face and the sight of him with half his hair pulled back in a ponytail and the little wisps that fell around his face looked good.

Really good.

As he walked up to the counter he was greeted by his usual sneer although it looked less angry today.

“What do you want to order?”

“Hmmmm” Otabek began, pretending he had to think about it just to see Yurio’s eye twitch. “I’d like a Triple, Venti, Half-Sweet, Non-Fat Caramel Macchiato, please.”

He was met by a glare.

“A what?”

“A Triple, Venti-“

“I heard you the first time, you extra freak,” Yurio interrupted with a scoff. “I was just making sure you were serious.”

He quickly typed it up in the system and then to Otabek’s surprise, marched over to the bar.

“Oi, pig, I’m making this one, go man the register.”

As a flustered Yuuri went to do as told, Otabek slowly moved around the counter.

He decided to stay quiet and see how this played out. He had no idea why Yurio wanted to make his drink personally but he figured at the very least maybe he wanted practice in making odd drinks.

His interest was really piqued when he saw him snap a picture of his drink before sliding the cup over the counter towards him.

“One fancy ass drink for the closet white girl,” he growled and then continued to stare at him.

Otabek looked down into his cup and was pleasantly surprised to find a fun little leaping tiger made out of the caramel sauce.

“Ah,” he said, smiling slightly. “This is very good! Have you been practicing?”

Yuri leaned forward over the counter and snarled, “Of course it’s good! I made it!”

He turned his head, his face growing red, and grumbled under his breath, “Yes, I’ve been practicing.”

“Mm,” Otabek responded, plopping his lid onto his cup. “Well it was very cute and I enjoyed it. I’m sure you’ll surpass me in no time, Yurio. I have to go to class now but I look forward to the next time I’m able to see your work.” Then, possessed by something he couldn’t stop, he winked at the blond and quickly walked towards the exit, hearing a yelled “I told you not to call me that!” as he slipped through the door.

He had a feeling he was in the best kind of trouble with this kid.

***

It continued on like that for the next couple of months. Anytime Yuri (not Yurio, he was trying to respect his wishes) would come in on Otabek’s shift, he would make him some form of latte art and vice versa.

Yuri was improving, that was obvious. Otabek had quickly learned that Yuri had a competitive streak a mile wide and so whenever he mastered a certain level or pattern, Otabek would introduce a new thing. If Yuri surprised him with something one week, Otabek made sure to add it to his next order.

Mila called it flirting and she wasn’t wrong. The highlight of Otabek’s week had become the times Yuri would come into the shop and order his coffee. He would always chat with him for a minute or two before he had to leave and it was honestly something he looked forward to.

What made the turning point was one day when Otabek was leaving the café with a new latte thanks to Yuri, Victor came running out after him, frantically waving a piece of paper in his hand.

“Otabek, hi, listen, I know you’re not one for social media, but listen to me.” He thrust the piece of paper into Otabek’s hand. “Create an Instagram. Follow this account. Go through the pictures. Do it tonight. Promise me?”

Otabek just blinked at him.

“Do you _promise_ me?” Victor emphasized, grabbing him by the shoulders and staring into his eyes.

“Sure.”

“Excellent! I’ll see you tomorrow!” He said with a blinding grin before practically gliding back into the café.

***

Otabek quickly figured out that the account Victor had told him to follow was Yuri’s. He didn’t really understand why but he was enjoying seeing all of the photos that Yuri put up about his life. As he was scrolling through he came to a picture of latte art that he recognized as the last thing he had made for Yuri that week. As he read the caption, his eyes widened.

“Another freakin perfect latte art drink **#FromTheBoy**. I suppose my next move is to make one that crosses two drinks although I’m not sure how to get him to order two. **#LAadventures** ”

_From the boy?_

That sounded promising.

When he clicked on the hashtag (he did know what those were) it brought up a picture of every piece of latte art that Otabek had made for Yuri. Including the first one that was captioned as “from the cute boy at the coffee shop where I work, who apparently doesn’t have an Instagram **#howdoeshelive** ”.

Otabek really hoped Yuri came in to get coffee tomorrow.

***

His wish was granted when, only an hour into his shift, Yuri walked through the door of the shop and ordered his usual Flat White.

“Do you want chocolate sauce on top, today?” Otabek asked completely nonchalantly.

“What?” Yuri asked in confusion, which was fair, considering it was the first time Otabek had ever asked him something like that.

“I think you should try it with some chocolate sauce today.” Keeping his face blank, Otabek waited to see if Yuri would agree or disagree out of pure stubbornness. But apparently he seemed to get that Otabek really wanted this and so shrugged and hesitantly mumbled, “I guess.”

Otabek nodded and moved down the bar, trading places with Mila to make his drink. He was a little nervous but figured he had a really good shot here. He carefully moved the chocolate sauce around exactly the way he wanted and then, clearing his throat, he silently slid the drink across the counter.

He watched as Yuri stared down at the cup where the words _Date Me?_ were written in flowing chocolate. Slowly, as if afraid they would disappear if he looked away from them, Yuri pulled out his phone and snapped a picture of the words.

Otabek couldn’t help but snort a laugh and laughed even harder when Yuri looked up at him in indignation.

“Well?” He asked with a smile, after he calmed down. “Will you?”

He watched in fascination as Yuri’s cheeks slowly turned red while he stared out the window and growled “I guess someone has to teach you about Instagram, might as well be me.”

“Mmm,” Otabek hummed. “I’ll take that as a yes, then.”

Turning back, he met his eyes and in true Yuri fashion, scoffed, “Obviously,” before uploading his newest image to instagram.

 


End file.
